JEFFERSON – The upcoming expansions and partial renovation of the county jail was the topic of a pair of public presentations by county officials on Tuesday, May 5.
The jail was originally certified in 1978 to house 112 inmates at any given time during a period when the longest an inmate could stay was one day short of a full year – usually for a misdemeanor offense. County officials have described the county jail in recent years as obsolete, structurally failing, overcrowded and expensive to maintain.
What necessitated the project was a lack of space – not because of the number of people being processed into the jail, but due to the length of inmate stays and the resultant lack of bed turnover, according to meeting materials.
On average, the Ashtabula County Jail processes 985 people a year, with an average stay of just over 54 days. A bed at the jail turns over approximately once every 6.75 days.
There are several contributing factors:
• It typically takes two to four weeks for an initial court appearance after a probation violation or warrant arrest;
• Presentencing investigations typically take 30 days;
• Court dates are regularly scheduled months apart;
• Continuances and other scheduling delays;
• Competency evaluations;
• Sequential, rather than consecutive, court orders.
These court proceedings also typically occur consecutively, leading to long stays for inmates before they are sentenced or released.
This means the jail’s housing units are consistently full, creating additional staffing demands, particularly for specialty care, such as chronic medical problems and mental health treatment. This, in turn, raises costs for these longer-term care needs.
The final piece of the funding puzzle fell into place in June 2025, when the state announced a $15 million grant for a 55,000-square-foot, 209-bed expansion project.
Funding for the jail project comes from several sources:
• A $15 million capital grant
• $15 million in savings
• $10 million in federal ARPA funds
• $5 million in additional savings from investment income
• $250,000 from the state capital bill
• $5 million for fiscal 2027 community projects through Rep. Dave Joyce’s office
The balance is to be paid through the sale of bonds.
One of the project’s main goals is to build the proper number of the right kind of beds, with flexible space for programs to help inmates with mental health and/or substance use disorders.
Once completed, the expanded jail will have 172 beds in dormitory and bed cell units, with another 46 in a special housing unit. Construction documents are planned to be submitted in July.
Granger Construction has been selected as the project’s construction manager at-risk (CMR), a project delivery method where a construction manager acts as a consultant during design and assumes contractual risk, specifically a guaranteed maximum price, for completing construction.
The jail expansion project has an anticipated 24-month construction timeline, working in multiple phases and tentatively beginning in February 2027, with a completion date March 2029.
Plans are to be out for bid in September.
One of the ancillary projects is the demolition of the environmental services department office on West Walnut Street to make room for an expanded parking lot for the expanded jail. A new 5,142-square-foot, $1.8 million office building is to be built on Erie Street.
